American 19th century pro-slavery novels
Anti-Tom literature
consists of the 19th century pro-
slavery
novels
and other literary works written in response to
Harriet Beecher Stowe
's
Uncle Tom's Cabin
. Also called
plantation literature
, these writings were generally written by authors from the
Southern United States
. Books in the genre attempted to show that slavery was beneficial to
African Americans
and that the evils of slavery, as depicted in Stowe's book, were overblown and incorrect.
Uncle Tom's Cabin
[
edit
]
First published in serialized form from 1851–52 (in the
abolitionist
journal
The National Era
), and in book form in 1852,
Uncle Tom's Cabin
by Harriet Beecher Stowe quickly became the best-selling novel of the 19th century (and the second best-selling book of the century after the
Bible
).
[1]
This abolitionist novel focused on the evils of slavery and was inspired by the passage of the
Fugitive Slave Act
two years before, which punished those who aided runaway slaves. The book was highly controversial and fanned the debate over slavery in the country.
The Southern literary response
[
edit
]
The response to Stowe's novel in the
American South
was one of outrage. To counter Stowe's novel, Southern writers produced many pro-slavery books, the vast majority of them novels. In 1852 alone, eight anti-Tom novels were published.
[2]
These anti-Tom novels tended to feature a benign white patriarchal master and a pure wife, both of whom presided over childlike enslaved people in a benevolent extended-family-style plantation. The novels either implied or directly stated the view that
African Americans
were unable to live their lives without being directly overseen by
white people
.
[3]
Today, these novels and books are generally seen as pro-slavery
propaganda
. The anti-Tom genre died off with the start of the
American Civil War
.
[4]
Simms, Hentz, and other pro-slavery authors
[
edit
]
The two most famous anti-Tom books are
The Sword and the Distaff
by
William Gilmore Simms
and
The Planter's Northern Bride
by
Caroline Lee Hentz
.
[2]
Simms'
The Sword and the Distaff
came out only a few months after Stowe's novel and contains several sections and discussions that debate Stowe's book and view of slavery. The novel focuses on the
Revolutionary War
and its aftermath through the lives of Captain Porgy and one of his slaves.
[4]
Simms' novel was popular enough that it was reprinted in 1854 under the title
Woodcraft
.
The Planter's Northern Bride
by Caroline Lee Hentz was published two years after
Uncle Tom's Cabin
. Hentz's novel offers a defense of slavery as seen through the eyes of a northern woman—the daughter of an abolitionist—who marries a southern slave owner. Like other books in the genre, Hentz's novel tries to show that black people could not function well without oversight by whites. Her novel also focused on the fear of a
slave rebellion
, especially if abolitionists did not stop stirring up trouble.
[2]
Simms and Hentz's books were two of between 20 and 30 pro-slavery novels written in the decade after
Uncle Tom's Cabin
. Another well-known author who published anti-Tom novels is
John Pendleton Kennedy
.
[4]
Mary Henderson Eastman
's
Aunt Phillis's Cabin
was one of the bestselling novels of the genre. Published in 1852, it sold 20,000 to 30,000 copies.
[5]
In a note in the book, Eastman proudly stated she was a descendant of the
First Families of Virginia
.
Little Eva: The Flower of the South
, by Philip J. Cozans, was a rare example of anti-Tom literature intended to be a
children's novel.
[6]
Selected anti-Tom novels
[
edit
]
Among the novels in the anti-Tom genre are:
- The Sword and the Distaff; or, "Fair, Fat and Forty": A Story of the South at the Close of the Revolution
by
William Gilmore Simms
(1854)
- White Acre vs. Black Acre: A Case at Law
by William M. Burwell (1856)
- Antifanaticism: A Tale of the South
by
Martha Haines Butt
(1853)
- English Serfdom and American Slavery; or, Ourselves as Others See Us
by Lucien B. Chase (1854)
- Ellen; or, The Fanatic's Daughter
by Mrs. V.G. Cowdin (1860)
- Little Eva: The Flower of the South
by Philip J. Cozans (1853)
- "Uncle Tom's Cabin" Contrasted with Buckingham Hall, the Planter's Home
by Robert Criswell (1852)
- Aunt Phillis's Cabin: or, Southern Life As It Is
by
Mary H. Eastman
(1852)
- The Ebony Idol: A Tale
by Mrs. G.M. Flanders (1860)
- Liberia; or, Mr. Peyton's Experiments
by
Sarah Josepha Hale
(1853)
- Frank Freeman's Barber Shop: A Tale
by the Rev. Baynard R. Hall (1852)
- The Planter's Northern Bride
by
Caroline Lee Hentz
(1854)
- Tit for Tat
by "A Lady of New Orleans" (1856)
- The Lofty and the Lowly, or Good in All and None All Good
by M. J. McIntosh (1853)
- Uncle Robin, in His Cabin in Virginia, and Tom Without One in Boston
by J. W. Page (1853)
- The Cabin and Parlor; or, Slaves and Masters
by
Charles Jacobs Peterson
(1852, under the pseudonym of J. Thornton Randolph)
- The North and the South; or, Slavery and Its Contrasts: A Tale of Real Life
by Caroline Rush (1852)
- The Black Gauntlet: A Tale of Plantation Life in South Carolina
by Mary Howard Schoolcraft (1860)
- Life at the South; or, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" As It Is: Being Narratives, Scenes, and Incidents in the Real "Life of the Lowly"
by W. L. G. Smith (1852)
- Mr. Frank, the Underground Mail-Agent
by Vidi (1853)
- Life in the South: A Companion to Uncle Tom's Cabin
by C. H. Wiley (1852)
- The Leopard's Spots
, by
Thomas Dixon Jr.
(1901)
- The Clansman
, by Thomas Dixon Jr. (1905)
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- Notes
- ^
Notes on Book
Archived
2009-02-28 at the
Wayback Machine
, accessed Feb 16, 2007
- ^
a
b
c
"
Caroline Lee Hentz's Long Journey
Archived
2015-09-24 at the
Wayback Machine
" by Philip D. Beidler.
Alabama Heritage
Number 75, Winter 2005.
- ^
Joy Jordan-Lake,
Whitewashing Uncle Tom's Cabin: Nineteenth-Century Women Novelists Respond to Stowe
, Vanderbilt University Press, 2005
- ^
a
b
c
Lucinda MacKethan, "An Overview of Southern Literature by Genre"
,
Southern Spaces
, February 16, 2004.
- ^
Mary Henderson Eastman,
Aunt Phillis's Cabin
, University of Virginia, accessed 9 Dec 2008
- ^
Philip J. Cozans,
Little Eva: The Flower of the South
, c. 1853
External links
[
edit
]